We go in and bat, only for Trescothick, who came across this season, to retire hurt in the first over. Joe Root makes 90 (having signed him away with 0 FC games to his name. Currently averaging 55) and everyone else chips in - having just lost the first part of Day 3 to rain, I declared at 6/324 to try and take advantage of the cloud cover.

Then Chris Woakes and Tim Murtagh take an early wicket each, before my bowlers forget how to bowl a ball in anger, as a different regen makes 121*, and the first innings regan makes a run-a-ball 50. I chuck some declaration bowling their way early on Day 4, and they declare with me needing to make 370 in two and a half sessions, with Tresco out.

Nick Compton makes 61 at good pace, and going in to lunch we need ~320ish. Wickets tumble to Michael Munday and Tino, and at 4/138 I call the chase off - Tim Ambrose and Joe Root sitting on 2 bars apiece.

But they clearly didn't get the memo, Root playing a lengthy innings of 56 while Ambrose finally did something and made 90 from 121. I slowly increased the aggression just before Tea, but when Root fell I thought it was all over. But no way was I calling it off now - Woakes could have a crack.

Chris Woakes, having bowled like an absolute pile of turd all game, made 59 from 60 and Nathan Hauritz (a week back from injury, and only playing because Dan Vettori was out injured) added 25 pretty quickly, keeping us in with a chance of getting those 80 runs in the last 40 minutes.

Two overs to go, and the target's 17. No chance. Especially when Hauritz falls second ball of the penultimate over. In walks Tim Murtagh, facing a fired up Tino Best. Murtagh's one short of full aggression, Woakes is maxed out.

Tim gets off strike with his first ball, leaving 15 to win. Next ball Woakes blasts him out of the park - 9 off 7. Best oversteps, and they take three off the bat. 6 from 7. Murtagh squeezes out another single.

First ball of the last over is bowled by Munday, who has 7 for the match already. Murtagh hits it for four, leaving one required. He almost gives it away next ball, and the third is worked away for a tight single to give us the win, in a game we had every right to lose.

In other random news, Nick Compton continually turns into a genuine all rounder in all of my ICC 2010 saves. He has 19 List A wickets at 12 in my current game.

I'm playing the 2012 demo, got to halfway through the 2016 season before I ran out of demo (2 days on each of my 3 PC's, transferring save game using Dropbox), so need to get the money to buy the full game.

Playing as Yorkshire, haven't managed to get out of Division 2 yet in 4 attempts. Every season I've needed 220-230 points to finish second, which has been really tough. 3 poor seasons to begin with due to a poor bowling attack (Patterson and Ashraf are awful to begin with, although I've kept Ashraf and he's improved a lot since) and a strong batting line up, resulting in a lot of big first innings scores but the inability to bowl a team out twice. A couple of surprise retirements (Pyrah was amazing for me but retired at the end of the first season) didn't help either.

2015 season - Slightly more competitive with some decent regen bowlers, but they still need to improve. Awful start to the season but won several games in a row towards the end, wasn't quite enough. Forced to settle for 4th in Division 2.

Last game of the season, was guaranteed to finish 4th no matter what, so I tried to screw Lancashire out of promotion on the final day of the season by preparing a road and picking 11 batsman. Won the toss, scored 750ish all out, batting on 2 bar aggression for 2.5 days, Joe Root carried his bat for a big double hundred. Bowled them out cheaply with them only getting 1 batting bonus point, Adam Lyth picking up a 5fer. Enforced the follow on, Adam Lyth picked up more wickets but they held on for a draw, 6 down for not very many in their second innings. Will post a screenie of Adam Lyth's bowling figures sometime, he's turned into a decent batting allrounder, almost always use him as my 5th bowler in the shorter formats.

Lancashire only got 2 bonus points and 3 for a draw. With the 3rd place team only 7 points behind and playing the bottom side, Glamorgan, who hadn't won a game all season, they should win easily, and get promoted at Lancashire's expense. Of course, the 3rd place side somehow managed an innings defeat to Glamorgan, meaning Lancashire still got promoted.

2016 season - Great start so far, played 7 games and top of the table on about 125 points, hopefully get promotion once I've bought the game. Picked up AB de Villiers as my main overseas player (Bairstow plays all 3 formats for England on my save, but not IPL, so I needed a decent keeper/batsman for when Bairstow isn't available), and the reserve overseas player is a SLA Pakistani Regen who averages 19 with the ball and bats at 8.

Finished the 2016 season, absolutely epic end to the season, couldn't have written it any better tbh.

I underestimated how much of an effect losing my reserve overseas player would have, as it meant I had to bring in Azeem Rafiq (Who averages 42 with the ball). I lost my dominant lead at the top of Division 2, Leicestershire ended up champions with 2 games to spare, and going in to the final day of the season, there were 6 teams fighting for second place:

Worcestershire - Played 16, 212 points, held 2nd place going in to the final round of games but were unlikely to stay there.
Glamorgan - Played 15, 208 points, were in the best position as a win would guarantee promotion, but were facing Leicestershire, who were already this season's Division 2 champions.
Derbyshire - Played 15, 200 points, were playing Somerset who were second from bottom.Yorkshire (Me) - Played 15, 199 points. I was playing Kent who had already secured the wooden spoon for the second season running.
Hampshire + Essex - Played 15, 188 points. Were playing each other, needed the maximum 24 points and other results to go their way, highly unlikely either of these teams would be promoted but still mathematically possible.

I was away, so I had no control over the conditions - I hoped that I wouldn't arrive to find the SSC waiting for me as even with maximum bonus points, a draw wouldn't be enough. There was cloud cover for the first two sessions of day 1, and I chose to bowl first as a result. I cleaned up the top 6 before lunch, and picked up the 7th wicket shortly after lunch, leaving Kent on 144/7, before the tail wagged, and I had to take the new ball before dismissing Kent for 280. I would've taken that at the start of play, but at 144/7, I was expecting to bowl them out for 100 runs less.

Kent 280, Perham [Regen] 82*, Adil Rashid 4/74, Moin Ashraf 3/60

My reply started off badly, losing Adam Lyth and Gary Ballance cheaply. However, partnerships between AB De Villiers and Andrew Gale, then a 129 run partnership for the 4th wicket between De Villiers and Adil Rashid put the innings back on track. At 305/4, I was looking to build a big first innings lead, look to bowl Kent out cheaply second time around and either win by an innings, or have a small 4th innings chase. Unfortunately, I collapsed to 362 all out, picking up 3 bonus points in the process.

Yorkshire 362, AB de Villiers 127, Adil Rashid 82, Andrew Gale 56

The second innings didn't quite go to plan. I struggled to bowl Kent out for 415, with a big century for Daniel Bell-Drummond, a half century for their overseas player, Fawad Alam, and contributions down the order.

I needed 334 runs to win, with a tricky little session at the end of Day 3, and the whole of Day 4 to score the runs. I opened with Joe Sayers instead of Adam Lyth, the reason being that I would likely face a dozen overs of seam before the close, then even more seam at the start of Day 4. Adam Lyth is much better against spin in my game. I finished Day 3 on 49/0.

I would need a win, and hope that results went my way - I needed Glamorgan to not win, and Derbyshire to score less points than me. I had 6 bonus points secured already. Of course, nothing other than a win would do at this stage.

I navigated the first few overs successfully, but lost Gale. 80/1. No big deal, I've still got plenty of batsmen in the shed, who are more than capable of chasing down that target. Adam Lyth walks out to the crease, and puts on another 75 runs for the second wicket at a decent rate before handing a simple catch to the slip cordon. My number 4 batsman, Gary Ballance, averaging 60 in FC cricket, comes in and shares another big partnership with Joe Sayers.

At tea, I'm 227/2, I need another 107 runs to win, with Joe Sayers on 115* and Gary Ballance looking in good form. I couldn't possibly mess it up from here, could I?

Well, I could. First ball after tea, Sayers is castled. De Villiers and Rashid quickly come and go for single figure scores, leaving me on 248/5. I also have a batsman at 7 in only his second FC game. He got himself in, and just as I thought everything was back on track, Gary Ballance falls. 275/6, and I'm into my rather long tail. Thankfully, Azeem Rafiq can hold a bat, but the rest of the tail are Chris Martinesque. This was the match right here - I needed a partnership, and I got one. It wasn't long before I was in to single figures required. With just 9 runs needed though, Rafiq was bowled.

325/7, but I still have a batsman who is in. I couldn't mess it up from here, surely? Unfortunately, there was just three overs remaining in the day, and the #9 was on strike. He fell LBW for a golden duck, which was the last thing I needed.

325/8. I can't lose. I was 220/2 not long ago. My #10 survived the over, bringing my proper batsman back on strike. Two overs left. Three dots to begin the over. ****. The last thing I needed. Thankfully, a 4 and a 2 leave me with just 3 to get off the last over, and my proper batsman on strike.

331/8, last over of the game. Just 3 runs needed now. First ball is a dot. Five balls left. Second ball of the over crashes into the stumps, and all of a sudden, I still need 3 runs, but I have #10 [regen] and #11 [Moin Ashraf] at the crease. 331/9, and any result is possible.

Moin Ashraf gets off strike the next ball. 332/9, three deliveries remaining. The regen takes a single off the next ball. Two balls left to get a single and win the game. The keeper is back - Is the AI smart enough to run a bye to the keeper for the win if necessary?

The next ball is a dot. Last delivery of the season, and I need a single to have a chance of promotion. The bowler runs in. The ball smashes into Moin Ashraf's front pad, and the umpire gives him out LBW. My season is over. I've thrown it away.

Yorkshire 333, Joe Sayers 115, Andy Johnston [Regen] 6/99Match Tied

But wait... You get 8 points for a tie, as opposed to the usual 3 points for a draw. I also have 6 bonus points from the first innings. Those 14 points put me ahead of Worcestershire by a single point, so there is a chance I can be promoted, but I need Derbyshire to not win against Somerset, and Glamorgan need 4 points or less against Lancashire. It's incredibly unlikely.

Nottinghamshire vs Durham
Started CC 2012 campaign with Nottinghamshire today. After winning against Worcestershire, the match against Durham was a bit of insane game. Declared at 386/7 after lunch in 2nd day. James Taylor hit a ton and more than useful contribution by Chris Read scoring 96 before getting plumb lbw off Ben Stokes.

Durham reached 329 before getting all out. Swann picked a five for with Broad and Adams taking 2 wickets each.

Rain interrupted and lost few overs in the progress. Came out to bat with full aggression mode the final day with intentions of declaring somewhere around lunch. Both Hales and Edwards scored 50 odd in quick succession with Taylor and Read providing handy 30 odd each. Declared at 183/2 at Lunch setting the target around 240 in hope that might be enough to defend if Durham comes out all aggressive and also two full session giving me a chance to take a shot.

Durham came out all guns blazing. After the openers reached 40 odd after 9 overs, brought Swann back. Immediately Swann provided the much needed break through sending M Di Venuto to the pavilion who was striking at over 80. But the charge was still on. J Myburgh and Stokes made a solid partnership in the middle scoring 47 and 48 respectively. However Broad cleaned up Stokes followed by a plumb lbw to Myburgh. Game on.

Around 40 needed from 10 overs with 5 wickets in hand for Durham. Phil Mustard and Blackwell were at the crease. Mustard was playing Swann really well so I had to take him off. Brought Adams back and they were comfortably rotating strikes. Just when I ran out of ideas and blaming myself for not batting atleast for half an hour after lunch, Adams provided the break through getting Blackwell. Few more overs where Mustard kept rotating strikes and Durham needed 10 runs from last two over. Brought Broad on and gone for 8 runs! I thought the game was pretty much over at that point. I reluctantly gave Swann the last over in hope. Durham needed 2 runs with 4 wickets in hand.

First ball to Borthwick, Out! c & b Swann

A very nervous Plunkett comes to bat, misses the second delivery, huge appeal for lbw the next one. Now 2 required from 3 balls. At this point field mode is in full aggression. Kind of blocks the next one, wraps into the pad the 5th delivery and misses the final ball. A huge miracle. I couldn't believe my eyes. Match Drawn.

Last edited by AndyZaltzHair; 31-08-2012 at 12:49 PM.

Originally Spoken by Brendon McCullumYou have got to earn the right to be aggressive.

I win the toss and bat (Day 2 looking terrible to bat through), and despite Trescothick, Malan, Compton, Hildreth and Ambrose failing to pass 21, we posted 9dec./396. James Ord made 195, Joe Root 49 while Tim Murtagh and Chris Woakes chipped in with 30s.

That left Notts with a handful of overs to bat before Lunch on Day 2 - when the weather was set to hit. We pick up an early wicket before the break, but after it all hell breaks loose.

The sky is charcoal and the pitch offers something for seamers - yet Boyd Rankin still went at 6 an over. I continue Woakes with Murtagh, and they tear through the top order. Notts are bowled out by 30 mins into the final session, Woakes with the figures of 12 overs, 8 maidens, 5/8. 141 all out.

Then they fight a bit harder in the second dig, making 236 (Murtagh 5/74). Innings and 19 run win, and the 23 points put me 1 behind Lancashire - with 2 games in hand.

EDIT:

Just went on to the next day - Michael Carberry (on England duty) is out for 3 weeks as a result of injuries sustained opening the batting in the Ashes. This comes the Test after Jonathan Trott was put on the shelf for 3 weeks as a result of injuries sustained opening the batting in the Ashes. Both are out due to a 'fracture'.

And Phil Mustard, opening the batting in a CC game in the absence of Carberry (not in the Ashes; he's still too **** for that), is out for - you guessed it - 3 weeks with a fracture.

2nd Test vs. South Africa, they make a 130 run opening stand and are 2/200, before collapsing to 348ao, Trent Boult finally proving himself with 5/62.

We then make 6/605, tons to Williamson, Wells, Merchant and 50s to CdG and Franklin.

Despite having a 250 run lead, we somehow spontaneously lose the ability to take a wicket, as they rack up 6/510 (only thanks to Cam Merchant dismissing Smith when I was declaration-bowling, and a pre-declaration runout). That leaves us 250 odd to chase in 39 overs.

Decided to go for it, and we're 4/235 with time to spare, despite needing 110 in the last hour. Wells, Guptill and CdG smacking it all around the joint. We then lose 4/10, leaving us 6 runs short with 3 overs to go and 2 wickets in hand. Todd Astle plays out a maiden. In the end we get over the line with 4 balls to spare.

The South African left arm spinner (Regen) had the figures of 10 overs, 1 maiden 5/71.

Just went on to the next day - Michael Carberry (on England duty) is out for 3 weeks as a result of injuries sustained opening the batting in the Ashes. This comes the Test after Jonathan Trott was put on the shelf for 3 weeks as a result of injuries sustained opening the batting in the Ashes. Both are out due to a 'fracture'.

And Phil Mustard, opening the batting in a CC game in the absence of Carberry (not in the Ashes; he's still too **** for that), is out for - you guessed it - 3 weeks with a fracture.

Contracts were ITSTL. Regen quick who is gun in T20 but pretty mediocre everywhere else wanted his salary doubled, so I told him to stick it. Released a few guys who weren't getting games and ended up with this squad:

The batting is fine with 18 players with first class averages above 50.

No all-rounder is destroying my ODI record. No batsmen can bowl 10 overs. *No bowlers are reliable at number seven. The best all-rounder at domestic levels averages mid 20's with the bat and high 40's with the ball. Awaiting a regen.

Wicketkeeping an issue. Several choices average mid 30's in domestic - however all have failed at international level. Neate is only 22 and has the best record.

Bowling remains the big issue. Fry and Quentin do the job; however it's a constant recycling process through the remaining bowlers.

Four or five seasons ago the team had a perfect record being the series holder against all Test nations. Big rebuilding job ahead.

Just played through a few more games on my ICC 2012 New Zealand save (2015 season)
Ranked 3rd in Test. 5 in ODI and T20
In the batsmen rankings for tests, 1-Kane-Williamson(avg 45),2-Ross Taylor(51),3-Jesse Ryder(41), 5-Dean Brownlie(51),6-Martin Guptill(40), 9- Brendon McCullum(38). Also have a wicket keeper regen averaging 150 after 8 matches!
BJ Watling was recently dropped, after averaging 37 with 5 hundreds after 40 matches.
In ODI's 1-Brendon McCullum, 3-Kane Williamson,6 Martin Guptill
In T20s 1-Kane Williamson, 6-Martin Guptill, 7-Ross Taylor. I just tried williamson for the first time in T20, he is averaging 99 with a SR of 140 after 10 matches batting at 3! and to think i had never considered batting him in this format before.

The bowlers are not dominating the rankings (no bowlers in top 10 for any format) but consistently bowl very well, defending modest totals of 225 and bowl out top batting units such as South Africa for under 300-350. Matt Henry is a beast in ODIs for me, rubbish economy but has taken 17 5-fors in 25 games.
In tests Daniel Vettori, Doug Bracewell, Small, Henry and a couple of regens average under 30, with Boult and Wagner averaging mid 30s (although the computer keeps wanting me to select them), making it very hard to pick a pace quartet.

The team is far from perfect, for starters apart from the aging Dan the Man who has won many a match for me i lack a spinner. Furthermore while there are a couple of decent spinnners at first class, there is not a single allrounder spinner (discounting Woodcock who sucks and is old) While i have managed adequately without a spinner in the past, the teams are balancing out really nicely with over powered regens appearing everywhere and players like Lyon and Finn turning into beasts (Finn took 8 wickets one T20 match!). What makes it even worse is every second home pitch seems to favor spin.
I also suffer from the age old problem, to many middle order batsmen, not enough top order or decent all rounders. Munro, Broom and a regen are handy, but are not good enough to be selected above someone else, so remain in training for LO's where they are adequate but bowl to many lose deliveries